The Competition Between Apple and Android

it's real :)

Image via Wikipedia

There are several competitors in the mobile technology field, but Apple and Android are the clear leaders of the pack. They both have comprehensive app markets and high cell phone sales. There are some differences, however, that might eventually make one do better than the other.

Apple

One reason why Apple has done so well in the cell phone industry is because of their iPod. For a long time, the iPod was the best device for listening to music. Apple combined the concept of their iPod with a cell phone to create the iPhone. To date, the iPhone is still the best smartphone for listening to music.

Apple’s app market is another reason why they are able to compete so well. Every one of their apps is tested before it is released to the market, making them have one of the most secure platforms for users.

Android

Android may have entered the competition late, but they are now strong competition. Their app market is growing at a phenomenal rate, and you can find pretty much any app on Android that you can find on Apple.

One reason why Android is so popular is because they have a huge selection of phones. This is because their operating system is open-source, making it easier for developers to launch new phones. For instance, you can buy an LG Android phone, an HTC Android phone, and more. This is a huge advantage for Android because they may beat out Apple based on their large selection of phones.

The competition between Android and Apple is still raging, and it will be interesting to see which competitor comes out on top. Will it be a battle between app markets, phone options, or something else?

Linux on Your Phone

Linux on Your Phone

Sure you have heard of the Linux operating system before but did you know that Linux is much more common than you think? You can find it in many embedded systems like copy machines, but even on a consumer level some new washers and dryers with fancy displays and buttons may run some variant of Linux. But the place where you will find it hidden the most is in your phone. Yep, if you have a new Smartphone, odds are good it’s an iPhone or Android phone you are essentially running Linux. Linux is important as it an Open Source operating system which again, everyone uses.

If you are running an Android phone you are running Linux. Sure it not the desktop version that you may have seen with all its options and bells and whistles, but the operating system is based off Linux. Now just because the operating system is based on Linux it doesn’t mean you can run native Linux applications. No Google has done enough tweaking that it simply isn’t possible. As the Android operating system advances more and more, its stems further and further from the Linux development fork that it was created from.

Google isn’t the only company that created a phone with a core based on Linux and while the connection may be small, Apples iOS that runs on their iPhone, contains a trace amount of Linux. Because the Apple’s iPhone operating system, is based on Mac OS X, which is based on the NeXTs operating system called “OpenStep”, which has part of FreeBSD and NetBSD built into its core. So you can see while the there isn’t a very strong connection, it’s enough for most to consider it a valid claim.

Open-Source Operating Systems Revolutionizing Mobile Computing

Today, the world is becoming smaller due to the round-the-clock and quick connectivity between the computing devices. The current generation in the era of I.T. development is of mobile devices, such as netbooks, mobile phones, smartphones, PDA’s, tablet PC’s and notebook computers. With increasing computing powers, increasing wireless connection capabilities, and reducing screen sizes, advanced developments in operating systems were also bound to take place. Linux, being one of the leading operating systems, impressed the world with its capabilities to run on the mobile platforms.
Although, there are several operating systems optimized to run on the mobile devices, such as smartphones, touch screen based phones, and netbooks. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, Apple iPhone OS, Symbian OS, Palm OS, and Google Android etc. are few of the bestselling operating systems that have proven their worth with their strong followership among the mobile consumers. Prevalence of open source and freely available software among these operating systems can be easily manifested by the growing popularity of operating systems, such as Google Android, Symbian, Nokiaâ’s Maemo, and Palm’s WebOS in the recent quarters.
Undoubtedly, Apple iPhone jumpstarted a new era in mobile computing technology and came bundled with lots of goodies, in terms of a wealth of mobile based applications. However, the Linux based open source OS, Google’s Android is now proving to be a real rival to Apple’s proprietary iPhone. Essentially, the reason for its growing popularity is the freedom with which, developers can contribute to the application development for Android. They need not buy or learn any proprietary software or programming language and Android’s development kit fits nicely with developers existing tools and utilities.
Witnessing the success of open source software, such as Linux and its flavors for the mobile devices, mobile industry giants like Nokia got an inspiration and open-sourced their popular operating system, Symbian. Looking the success and growing consumer base of the devices powered by the open-source operating systems, it seems fair to say that future of I.T. lies with open source software and proprietary software vendors might soon look to change their business models and open-source their software applications.

Samsung Galaxy Adds Android’s Power to Your Palm

Samsung Galaxy
Image via Wikipedia

Among the cut-throat competition to develop products equipped with the latest technologies, Samsung unveils the Samsung Galaxy smartphone. It is one of the high-end smartphones powered by Android and built by Samsung. While many consider it as a Samsung’s attempt to remain in the frontline with modern mobile products, some think of Samsung Galaxy as an economic alternative to Apple’s iPhone 4. Reviewers and experts may have varying opinions, but here are some interesting features which make Samsung Galaxy an interesting product and even, a good buy:

- It’s the slimmest Android-based phone available in the market till date. This does not have much to do with the computing power, but is a feature often appreciated by the people with good aesthetic sense.
- AMOLED (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) powered impressive 3.2 touch screen is not only capable of displaying striking colors, but also results in a significant reduction in energy consumption and an increased battery life.
- A high quality and highly sensitive camera capable of taking pictures of up to 5MP resolution. Of course, you cannot expect this to be a replacement for a dedicated digital camera. Nevertheless, its auto-focus capability makes it a good camera capable to taking good photographs for a smartphone. Only negative point is the slow recording of the picture after the click of camera. It reduces the speed of clicking consecutive snapshots.
- It boasts of all the latest connectivity options, such as USB, Bluetooth, HSPDA7.2, GPS, Wi-FI, quad-band EDGE/GPRS etc. making it a device equipped with the latest in technology.

Overall, if you are looking for a reasonably priced and reliable smartphone, which can bring Linux-based Android’s power to your palm, Samsung Galaxy just fits your choice. Its capability to run most of the Android-based open source free and paid applications, a powerful processor, speed of browsing, and long battery life really makes it a competent candidate in a market with the presence of strong-selling HTC Desire and Apple iPhone4.

Android and iPhone OS – the Linux-Based Market Leaders for Mobiles

In this age of fast and compact computing devices, several I.T. giants have delved into the development of mobile based operating systems. Microsoft Inc., being a leading vendor in the PC based operating systems, came up with WinCE followed by Windows Mobile editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Along the same path, evolution of mobile based flavors of Linux kept pace in addition to the development and establishment of Linux as a core computing platform. These developments are still going on and have given birth to an entirely new age in the wireless computing market.

The latest and two most successful mobile operating systems are Google’s product Android and Apple’s product iPhone, which are based on Linux. These operating systems are meant to run on specific mobile devices and are becoming revenue generating sources for several mobile handset manufacturers. Google Android can run on the mobile devices manufactured by several companies whereas iPhone OS is specifically designed to run on the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad devices.

There are several differences in their look and feel, capabilities, functionalities, features, compatibilities, and of course, their users. However, the thing that remains common and is the least known to most of the mobile users is that they both are built on a Unix core. This is not to say that the software developed on Linux or Mac can directly run on Android based phones or iPhones. Android and iPhone OS are two well-customized operating systems that are optimized to run on specific hardware and can support only the application specifically designed for them.

In addition to their common core operating system, their popularity in the current market is another commonality between Android and iPhones. These both operating systems have millions of mobile applications available for download today. These operating systems have been getting richer with the wealth of capabilities and applications developed by numerous developers from all over the world.